The Quarterback Retired

Group 1 winner The Quarterback (Aus) (Street Boss) has been retired from racing. The Robbie Griffiths trained gelding had his finest hour when beating Black Heart Bart (Aus) (Blackfriars {Aus}) in the G1 Lexus Newmarket H. at Flemington last year but has been well below form in his most recent runs leading connections to call time on the 7-year-old’s racing career. “Its always sad when you lose your best talent but the decision has been made for all the right reasons and we’re comfortable with that,” Griffiths told Racing And Sports. The Quarterback burst blood vessels on his last couple of outings and vets could offer no solution to manage the infliction which ultimately made the decision to retire the nine-time winner even easier. “The experts couldn’t see why that was happening and the scariest part was the vest couldn’t give me a control plan. Once we realised it was high risk if he raced on then it was a simple decision to pull the pin. He’ll get pampered and blue-ribboned and have a good life,” Griffiths added. The Quarterback will be looked after in retirement by his longtime groom Leanne Fielding and he retires with a race record of 34-9-2-6 for earnings of A$1,447,950.